Sensex down 21pts in choppy trade; logs 6th straight wkly gain

The Sensex today erased early gains to end 21.79 points down on losses in capital goods, oil & gas, and realty shares but recent gains helped the benchmark log its sixth week of gains, the longest in over two years.
After opening in the positive zone at 27,139.39, the Sensex surged to touch the day's high of 27,247.17 on continued buying by foreign funds and retail investors on positive domestic and global cues.
However, late selling at improved levels wiped off initial gains to close 21.79 points, or 0.08 per cent, down at 27,090.42. Intra-day, it had touched a low of 27,047.68.

The gauge rallied 619.70 points in previous two sessions on the back of rising optimism over trade ties with China and Fed's continued pledge to retain rates at low levels.
On a weekly basis, the Sensex gained 29.37 points as it registered its sixth straight week of rise.
The 50-share NSE Nifty index managed to close in positive zone with a marginal gain of 6.70 points, or 0.08 per cent, at 8,121.45 as TCS, Lupin, Maruti Suzuki, Tata Steel, Axis Bank and Cipla stocks gained.

The barometer moved between 8,160.90 and 8,105.35 during the session on alternate bouts of buying and selling.

Sentiments turned somewhat weak and early gains were pared after participants preferred to book profits in recent gainers at prevailing higher levels, equity brokers said.
"Profit-booking in bluechips at current levels, brought Sensex down", said Manoj Choraria, a Delhi-based broker.
Overall, 13 constituents of 30-share Sensex like L&T, HeroMoto Corp, Hind Unilever, Mahindra and Mahindra, ONGC, SBI, Tata Motors, RIL and BHEL fell while 17 others rose.
Shares of Tata Steel and TCS caught buyers' fancy after Moody's yesterday upgraded ratings of Tata Group firms.
Sectorally, the BSE Capital Goods index suffered the most by falling 1.89, followed by the Oil & Gas index that fell 1.22 per cent, Realty index 0.81 per cent, Auto index 0.70 per cent, Metal index 0.50 per cent, FMCG index by 0.40 per cent and Power index 0.40 per cent.

Bucking the trend, small-cap and mid-cap indices rose 0.63 and 0.04 per cent.
Globally, other Asian markets ended higher and European markets were in better form.